I was better off on benefits but work gave me my dignity: My Wigan Pier Story

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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As part of our Road to Wigan Pier 2017 project, 80 years on from the publication of George Orwell's essay, postal worker, Chris Melville explains why he's struggling on a part-time salary

Chris Melville, 48, is a Royal Mail worker in Sheffield. He relocated when London got too expensive but, as he tells Claire Donnelly, surviving on part-time wages is tough in the north too.

I was born in Hackney, London but I moved up here when I was younger because it was costing too much in London.

I was on agency in London, working for them and getting £75 per week but the rent was £25 per week so I couldn’t do it. It just wasn't enough.

My dad was up here so I moved up and I did the same kind of thing in Sheffield.

Then I was out of work for abut 12 years. I did all kinds of courses to keep myself busy but it was a hard slog, it wasn’t a good situation.

The job centre didn’t help me, they didn’t care, it was Remploy who finally helped me.

They helped me get a job at Royal Mail sorting office - without them I wouldn’t have a job, I wouldn’t have a life.

I’ve been there four years and the job gave me my dignity back, I feel like am a man again. I get up and go somewhere every day.

I’ve got mates there, it’s a different way of life.

But it’s only 22.5 hours a week so financially I’m worse than I was when I was out of work.

Because I work more than 16 hours a week I have to pay full for my rent and bills but unless you work 40 hours a week not many people can afford to do that. Money is always tight.

The full-time jobs at the Royal Mail are hard to come by, people are waiting seven, ten, years to get those.

I live in council accommodation, it’s £400 per month and you have to fight hard to get things done.

Sheffield has changed a lot since I first came here. The city centre is changing, there’s a lot of building and new shops, it’s becoming like London.

[NWpostie]

Read the book and his famous " Animal Farm"

George Orwell wrote other books, the two mentioned are his best works in my opinion.

[Decky Boy]

Try "Down and Out in Paris and London" ... it always lifts me and leaves me with a positive outlook on life

[NWpostie]

I've touched on that but read it properly yet, might well do fter Christmas when things have quietened down.

[Decky Boy]

It'll have you realising life as a postie isn't so bad after all